India happy with Sri Lanka on resettlement: Kaur

Betwa Sharma
New York, Oct 22 (PTI) India is satisfied with the steps
taken by Sri Lanka to rehabilitate more than 2.5 lakh refugees
displaced by the three-decade long conflict in the country's
north, the Minister of State for External Affairs, Preneet
Kaur, has said.
"We are happy with the progress and we are insisting that
they progress faster," Kaur told journalists here during her
official visit.
Underlining that the rainy season would begin in a day or
two, she appealed to Colombo to take swift action on the
humanitarian work.
"They'll have more of a problem and we don't have a
hospital there for them to look after. So it to their own
advantage that they take these refugees out of these camps and
put them back into the system of normal living," she said.
Slow progress in rehabilitating over 250,000 internally
displaced persons had led to strong international criticism
for human rights violations on the part of Sri Lankan
government.
Months after the army defeated the LTTE in the
northeastern part of the country, Tamil refugees continue to
live in make-shift camps.
Previously, New Delhi had criticised Sri Lanka for not
doing enough to resettle the refugees despite the substantive
financial assistance from India. (more) PTI